High and Low

He has eight starts this year where he has given the Yankees less than a 10 percent chance to win, and eight starts where he has given his team at least an 80 percent chance for victory. Amazingly, in every single one of his starts, he has given the Yankees at least a 69 percent chance of winning OR less than a 34 percent chance. Not one start in between.

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After reading that piece on ESPN, I took a slightly deeper look into Burnett's career expecting to see more of the same, but surprisingly, he has not always been so extreme in his performance. Although he has always trended toward having his fair share of great and awful games, it has never been as pronounced as this season.

It's interesting because he is precisely the type of pitcher a team like the Yankees don't need. If his ERA is, say, 4.5, he arrives at it in a fashion that doesn't really fit with the team: through extreme fluctuations.

Because they score a lot of runs they'd be better off with someone who consistently gives up 3 or 4 runs over 6 or 7 innings. On average they will win those games, whereas 6 to 8 runs is a lot to ask on a regular basis.

I think Burnett would be better suited to a crappier offense, where those 2 or less earned run games he throws could really come in handy.